


Shovel Talk(s)

by Invaderdumbass



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield Have a Good Relationship, Billy Hargrove Deserves Better, Billy Hargrove Is Bad at Feelings, Billy Hargrove Loves Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove Redemption, Boys In Love, Coming Out, Gay Billy Hargrove, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Implied/Referenced Homophobia, M/M, Shovel Talk, Steve Harrington Loves Billy Hargrove
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-27
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-06 19:02:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26133916
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Invaderdumbass/pseuds/Invaderdumbass
Summary: Max wasn’t a great sister, hell she wasn’t even a decent sister until recently. It took her brother dying, El spilling the secrets that lurk in her home, then him coming back to life for her to shape up.Or a bit of a Max Mayfield character study and everyones got an opinion on Billy and Steve getting together.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Billy Hargrove & Maxine "Max" Mayfield, Billy Hargrove/Steve Harrington, Billy Hargrove/past original male character
Comments: 14
Kudos: 252





	Shovel Talk(s)

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first shit I've wrote in years and I didn't even read it back so sorry about that. Tell me what you think 'n give me tips. be brutally honest about it if you wanna
> 
> edit: hi this hit 100 kudos so i’m simply ❤️❤️ to everyone who gives kudos or comments thank you❤️❤️

Max wasn’t a great sister, hell she wasn’t even a decent sister until recently. It took her brother dying, El spilling the secrets that lurk in her home, then him coming back to life for her to shape up.

She wasn’t good or great. She got Billy in trouble when she was mad at him or the world, she felt sick satisfaction at his meek little “yes sir”’s and “sorry sir”’s while Neil raved in front of her about his lack of responsibility. She pointedly ignored the shake in his hands during those lectures while Neil sent her off to her room or the store with her mom.

She pointedly ignored the harsh, biting voice that boomed in the quiet night from Billy’s room, followed by thuds and crashes. Ignoring the sick uneasy churn in her stomach, stuffing it away with a “he deserves the lectures” during his tantrums that come in the form of glass breaking and wood splitting in the night.

In the day those tantrums were different, loud music and sneered words. 

She now knows what she never wanted to, had naively ignored, and blindly believed. Even when she woke for school and he suddenly had a limp or a bleeding lip. Accepting the simple got into a fight or sarcastic _“you worrying about me, Maxine?”_

Now she knows he wasn’t jumped on his way home from the pier after sneaking out to hang out ~~make out~~ with Antonio. She feigned concern that late night, crawling into Neil and her mom’s room with a wobble to her voice.

“Billy went to the pier with Antonio but it’s so late and I’m worried!” she wasn’t. She was mad because he didn’t give her some of his allowances like he usually does. She was mad that he wouldn’t let her come with. She was mad because Antonio ruffled her hair with a fond laugh and a “you’re too young to come out so late, Mad Max! We’ll go together another time!” 

So when Neil kissed the top of her head, called her a good girl, and said he’d get Billy, she hid her grimace at his affection and thanked him in a still weepy voice.

When she woke that morning it was to Billy’s door off the hinges, and him nowhere in sight, just her mother and Neil.

When she sat at the table and thanked mom for breakfast, only then did she break the silence with an unease that showed in her hesitant words. The air felt off and she felt wrong, but she didn’t know why and it made her angry. Where was Billy to glare venom her way as she turned puppy dog eyes at his dad?

“Where’s Billy?”

All noise stopped for a moment, and it didn’t start again until Neil turned his paper and sipped his coffee as her mom made her way to the girl with a gentle look on her face.

“He’s at the hospital, sweetie.”

She jumped from her chair with wide eyes and vigor, what the hell did that asshole do! Billy never usually picks fights when he’s with Antonio and if he does it’s never ones he can’t win so what the hell happened. She _mostly_ voiced these to her mother with rushed passion-filled words only a preteen who hates her stepbrother can have. 

“He didn’t-” Susan stopped for a moment to glance at her disinterested husband before collecting herself and tried to calm her daughter. “He didn’t do anything, sweetie. He and- They got jumped.”

Max’s fiery thoughts were rushing in and out because that meant Antonio got hurt and she might hate Billy but she loves Antonio with his bright smile and loud laugh. His calm aura when she or Billy is raging to all hell. The way he got Billy to teach her how to skate by buying her a board and pointedly looking at Billy and saying “Mad Max has hot wheels now, come on amigo help her out!” She always hated Billy less when he was around Antonio, he was more of the big brother she dreamed of when she was young and naive-- which she still was but her eyes were opened when she met the rage-filled middle schooler at 8 years old.

“You did real good by telling me where Billy was last night, Maxine. I don’t want you worrying about any of that anymore.” Neil cut off her thoughts as he stood, kissing the top of her head once again before heading off to work.

She did good. Why didn’t she feel like it? It was confusing and annoying and it only got worse when her mom took her to see Billy after school. He was in bad shape, the worst she’d ever seen him. They had to do surgery on his _hand._

The glare he gave her was worse than he ever had before, turned deadly when she asked if Antonio was as bad. He told her to fuck off the second her mom was out of earshot. Told her Toni was worse than him when he saw him and it was all her fault. Why was it her fault?! She saved his ass! They would have been left for dead if Neil wasn’t looking for Billy! And she said those things to him, angry and confused, with tears of frustration welling in her tears at the thought that beautifully kind Antonio was in worse shape than Billy and it was her fault.

He laughed. Manic. Scary. And she could have sworn she saw tears of his own in his eyes as he barked out for them to leave. So they left. The image of bruised and broken Billy haunted her eyelids as she tried to attach Antonio’s face to it.

Then they actually left. It all happened faster than she really could process, they packed up the house while Billy was still in the hospital but left all his things. “It’s his responsibility, he can pack up his trash before we leave,” Neil said to Susan when she mentioned getting boxes for Billy’s stuff. 

And Billy did, the day he got home he had one day to pack up everything and load up the Camaro that was finally given to him by his uncle when he heard about the move. In hushed words Max heard him say to Billy “because you won’t have me to come to, I figured the car is kinda me and your ma but still yours.” She didn’t understand that at the time. She does now.

She didn’t understand why he didn’t stop to say goodbye to his friends or at least Antonio. Didn’t understand why he screamed at her when she asked if he would drive so she could.

So no, Max was not a great sister but after hearing El spill the truth of the ugliness that she caused when she thought Billy was gone forever, her never being able to make it up to him, to say sorry. When he came back, she didn’t know what to do. He was an adult, 18, so Neil threw him out with the dogs, leaving him the dust to find out how to function as a half person again.

Hopper opened up his new house to Billy, the spare room filled with simple furniture but then lovingly, the things from his old bedroom. Some things he didn’t even know he still had. Carefully filling the space, done by someone who knows Billy even without showing it. 

Max had a strong front on when Billy agreed to move in with Hop, but it crumbled the second he flinched at Hop’s caring clasp of the shoulder and she turned to El with tears in her eyes and El read her better than anyone ever could. Squeezed her hand and helped Max steel her spin before he could catch a glimpse at her fault in her mask. Because he didn’t know that she knew more than she once did.

She and El did his room while he was out job hunting and when he came back, still as a statue in the doorway, she closed El’s room pretending like her heart wasn’t racing out of her chest wondering if he understood. She cared. She was sorry. Did he know that? 

She couldn’t even bring herself to say what she needed to Billy because in her mind it would break the wonderfully fragile relationship they were building every day at the Hopper house. It would hurt her sometimes to see that it was often easier for Billy to be around El and interact with her but she understood it. El was quiet where Max was loud and while they both held bluntness El did it with childlike care.

Max could be mean and she knew it. She masked it as strength whenever she could. It was mean to break up with Lucas for him forgetting their date, but it was strong to know how she wanted to be treated. 

But this time, Max is gonna be mean and strong because it’s for her brother. Her brother, not stepbrother. They have gone through too much shit for that anymore. 

Steve Harrington reminded her of Antonio when he mothered them all. But only in glimpses that made her do a double-take. Because Steve and Antonio were opposites in almost every way. Steve was pale skin and constellations of moles while Antonio was golden and clear of any marks. Steve was rich and stuck up while Antonio was broke and free-loving.

But. But they both got this look with her, amused fondness at her outbursts. Ruffling red hair and eyes crinkling at the corners. Calming when rage burned bright. Logical and calculating even when you didn’t think they were.

The biggest similarity though was how they looked at her brother. 

And scarily enough, how Billy looked at them. It’s all so different but the same and she finally understands.

While Antonio was the one who would lean in close to Billy, whisper something into his ear that turned him bright red and earned a hard shove to the chest followed by laughter from the older boy tanned boy.

Steve will look at Billy like he’s proud and that’s all it takes for the red to crawl up his face, followed with a “Shut the hell up, Harrington.” with hands thrown up in surrender.

Steve looked at him like that a lot. When Billy did his physical therapy or when he was gentle with El or Will.

Antonio made Billy better, calmer, more comfortable. But Steve… Steve changed Billy. Or maybe Billy changed and Steve just pushed those changes forward. Whatever it is, it’s the same and different.

So when Billy is driving her to Steve’s because it’s D&D night, he’s twitchy and nervous. Keeps trying to tell her something, she notes the shake in his hands as he squeezes them tighter on the wheel, turning them white. 

“Spit it out, dude, we’re gonna be there in like 10 minutes.” She finally says which gets him to slow down the speed and she knows it’s serious.

“Fuck okay-! You remember Toni right?” He scarcely gets out but his words are blunt and she feels her pulse quicken, this is it. He’s gonna tell me it’s all my fault again and this time I’ll know he’s telling the truth. I’ll know that I got him and Antonio hurt that night. Sent a real monster their wa-

“-ax! Come on, I’m tryna fucking talk to you!”

“Right sorry, of course, I do… uh Why?” Her voice is quiet, childlike and it makes Billy take a pause. It’s a split-second decision to pull over once he saw her wavering lip out of the corner of his eye.

“Shitbird, what the hell? Why are you crying?” He tries for gentle but it sounds just a little scared and it reminds her of when he’d come in her room when they first started living together, the tender ages of 8 and 11, trying to calm her from her nightmares. It makes it cry harder as she shakes her head, insisting she’s not crying. He ends up half pulling her over the console to hug her. “Come on, I didn’t mean to make you upset. What’s wrong?” and he has gotten better at comforting her and it made her wonder if he is mimicking what made him feel better through all this or if he needed to comfort someone else.

“I’m not upset, fuck! Just what, why are you bringing him up?” She grinds out, pulling away from the hug to wipe harshly at her face and it’s his turn to turn tense,

“Fuck okay, remember how we, uh, shit- okay, listen I know I’m an asshole and I really don’t fucking deserve h- shit wait, I’m getting ahead of myself, uh-” Max cut off Billy’s rambling with something El does to her and she’s seen her do to Billy. A gentle hand, one she can just barely get right, pulls Billy’s hand away from where it’s currently ripping through his long hair in frustration. “Billy.” It’s one word. Not even a word, it’s a name. One for the whole beginning of living in Hawkins she only ever spoke like it tasted sour. One now spoke with the care that Max has a hard time mastering but it’s there and they both know she’s trying just like he is. Because they are both mean and have been for a while, it’s hard to be gentle with the person who you’ve been throwing venom at for so long.

He breathes, the way she’s seen Steve guide him through during a panic attack, one she’s not supposed to see but he didn’t close his bedroom door all the way and she heard his cries. The way she’s seen him guide Will after a call from Lonnie leaves him wide-eyed and shaking, it was only Steve, Billy, and The Party in the Byers house that night and he stepped up while Steve was stopping everyone else from rushing to Will, to not overwhelm him. 

“Okay. I’m dating Steve.” His words are quiet and she’s thrown through a loop but it also makes sense. So slowly and dumbly she nods. “Okay.”

“That’s it? You’re not gonna go into a tangent about how Steve deserves someone better or fuck even about me being a fag?” His words are spoken shocked, defensive, and all she can do is huff a small laugh with a head shake. 

“I don’t care if you’re gay Billy. And uh, that’s bullshit about Steve, you’re not a fucking monster and I’ve seen how you make him happy so why wouldn’t you deserve to be with him?” Her tone is blunt and so very Max again that Billy both breathes a sigh of relief and huffs a disbelieving laugh.

“Damn Maxine, be careful you might start making me think ya love me or some shit. But yeah, tell that shit to fucking Wheeler, Byers, and Buckley. They want my fucking head for being near Steve. Gave me the damn shovel talk each one of them. Thought since you’re one of his kids you’d do the same fucking thing.” That fueled bitter rage in her blood, boiling over for a brother she does love but fuck knows she’ll never admit it to anyone other than El.

  
  


“What the fuck do they know?! Newsflash asshole! Steve used to be an asshole too, you’re both like in a dickhead anonymous group or some shit. And anyway! Nancy cheated on him with Jonathan so they shouldn’t even have a fucking say!” His breath is caught between a real laugh and a disbelieving one as he feels care swell in his chest. This fire of a girl is defending him with her might and no one is even around. It brings him back to the day Toni dubbed her, Mad Max.

She’s breathing heavy and angry when he ruffles her hair, _familiar_ , with another laugh, he pulled back onto the road. He thinks that’s it, he’s surprised and relieved with how it went, but she proves him wrong when she opens her mouth again. 

“And another thing! If you guys are telling the rest of The Party make sure I’m there because I will be damned if Dustin or Mike say shit about you being an asshole when Will told me they used to hate Steve! Fuck them!” And with that, she’s done, he chuckles and reassures her that yes, he will make sure she’s there. Definitely not because it would feel nice to have someone other than Steve not against him, but because she demands it.

That’s the end of it for a while. They tell The Party and Max glares and shoves her elbows into Mike and Dustin’s ribs when they get too upset. Will looks amazed and over the moon, eyes shining with something close to hope, Billy makes sure to store that away for later and to talk to Steve about it.

Lucas was indifferent mostly, an uncomfortable congratulations left his lips but he smiled when Max gave him an approving nod. But other than Will, who was trying to hide some of his excitement, El was thrilled. She bounced up to them and gave them hugs with a wide smile and wider innocent eyes.

After Steve and Billy (mostly Steve) level with the kids about keeping it a secret, saying people would hurt them if they found out it sends a ping within Max’s ribcage and Billy notes the pain in her eyes while El squeezes her hand. El is angry at the thought that love could get you hurt and even when everyone tried to calm her, her own rage was boiling in her veins.

When Dustin hears that they had already been dating for the past 5 months, the yells start up again as he goes into his own version of the shovel talk, claiming El as his weapon while Max screams at him that _she’s a goddamn person Dustin!_

Max finds out that Dustin and Nancy give Billy another shovel talk a few weeks later, after Steve and Billy got found out by Joyce, and then of course Hop. They really weren’t planning on telling _the parents_ yet but Joyce coming over on a Saturday morning to help Hopper clean the whole house while she insisted all the kids’ help, took that plan away as she walks into Billy’s room to wake him up only to find a half-naked Steve Harrington in his lap kissing much too passionately for an early Saturday morning.

The stunned squeak that left her mouth, followed by rushed apologies were barely heard over the panicked yells of the two boys and Steve falling to the floor with a thud. She closed the door as fast as she could as Hopper came booming over in a rush, worried about what was happening and why Joyce both looked as red as a tomato and as if she’d seen a ghost. He went to grab Billy’s door when she stopped him with a rushed, “Wait no!”

Hopper wasn’t mad. Okay, he was a little. But not because Billy was gay, but because he snuck someone in his house to suck face. His rules were the same for Billy as they were El and he made that clear ever since he moved in. He felt a confusing but familiar form of parental anger wash over him. And because he’s still learning, he wasn’t thinking when he knocked ~~_banged_~~ on Billy’s door to get their asses dressed and out here, after Joyce calmly explained.

She gave him a disapproving _Jim_ when another thud and curse followed his knocking. He paced in the kitchen while Joyce sent off all the other kids to do tasks not near the kitchen so she could give them all privacy when they talked.

Jim Hopper wasn’t good at heart to hearts. He didn’t like them. He didn’t like talking about feelings. But he was a good cop. He was good at rules and regulations. He was getting better with Billy, really he was, Billy flinched less and less, Hopper knew to make his presence known unless he wanted more broken cups and shaking hands. 

But, Billy was a real teenager. Way different than El. And both even more different than Sarah. So he tried to compose himself with Joyce’s help and kind words of reminding him that they are kids before said kids shuffled feet into the kitchen both with vague looks of shame.

But Billy’s was more fearful than Steve’s and it made Hopper take a breath and remember everything he knows about Billy and he has had to go through in life. And he’s just a kid. So when Steve tries to _discreetly_ put his hand on Billy’s stone still arm, calming, reassuring, he takes another breath.

“I don’t care if you two are dating or whatever, alright? So you both can just fucking relax.” and they do, barely, “But I don’t appreciate having two goddamn teenagers sneaking around my house to- _christ_.” 

He directs his eyes and words to Billy who eyes him wearily. “He’s your boyfriend?” He points from Billy to Steve, Billy gives a hesitant almost pained nod, and Jim’s nose flares with a sigh. “Alright. Same rules as El. No sneaking around, the door needs to be open 3 inches when he’s here-” Billy having finally relaxed enough to be annoyed goes to interrupt Hopper.

“Jim come on, I’m not fucking 12-”

“I don’t give a damn. 3 inches. No boyfriend at my house at the asscrack of dawn. And you-” He points his finger to Steve who was once holding back giggles at the treatment only for his eyes to widen at Hopper’s intensity.

“Me?!” The boy closely shreks.

“Yes, you. I like you Harrington but Billy is my son-”

“ _Jesus Hop_.” Billy huffs embarrassed and shuffles his feet while Joyce awes and coos in the background.

“He is my son and I don’t give a single damn about your family’s money or influence, you do anything bad to him and you’re done.” Steve gulps with a stiff nod when Hopper turns his gaze back to Billy. “And you. You don’t ever turn to the shit you’ve been around with him or anyone again, you hear me? You’re not what you’ve been raised with and I’ll be damned if you even try that shit.” 

He keeps his words mostly vague out of respect for Billy, not knowing how much Steve knows about the piece of shit Billy has to share blood with. Joyce has never been so proud of Hopper.

So with that, Joyce claps her hands happily and brings the boys into a hug. She sees Billy pull Hopper to the side while she asks Steve about helping clean out the old big house. And if she notices the tears in the angry teenager’s eyes as the two share quiet words before Jim opens his arms for Billy to fall into a hug, she keeps it to herself and the love in her heart.

Later the two boys were the most comfortable Joyce had ever seen them even when Jonathan showed back up with Will, El, and Max in tow. She finds out that they were the last to know and that makes sense she realizes as she watches Will’s badly hidden amazed glances at the two with their arms around each other, tickling and swatting at the other, as Steve teases him about being Hopper’s son, it’s harder when it’s a parent.

But she now knows in her heart that her boy will be okay as Billy catches Will staring, winks at him, mouths _watch this_ , as he pretends to apologize and surrender to Steve with a kiss only for him to get a mouth of a feather duster. She watches as the boys run off, chasing each other around with threats and laughter, finally as young-sounding as they really should be. She watches Will’s giggle and smile and has in good faith that if he ever needs it he could go to Billy or Steve.

Billy is the happiest Max has ever seen him during those weeks and she knows something is wrong instantly. It’s in the way he carries himself defensive again and the way he scoots away from Steve. It makes her angry and confused. They were at the diner with Dustin and all of Steve’s attention was on Dustin and not his boyfriend who is clearly upset.

Steve merely bats an eyelash when Billy gets up in a huff and says he’s gotta go to work, which Max knows for a fact isn’t true. He doesn’t have to come in on Wednesdays, it’s only for overtime pay. So after Steve drops off Dustin, she climbs in the front seat with an angry and bitter huff.

Steve finally notices something is wrong and Max calls it a freaking miracle. Nearly clasps her hands together and thanks some bullshit god for oblivious asshole Steve Harrington to see something is wrong.

She’s angry and mean and she finally realizes what she can do to make it up just a little bit more to Billy because he deserves that even if she can’t fully give it to him. So she steels her spin and ready’s herself to spit venom.

“I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, Steve, but what I fucking saw was you being a shitty boyfriend to my brother and I’m not gonna put up with that shit-”

“Woah, Woah, Max wait what-”

“You’re not that fucking dumb, Steve, I know you’re not and I know you saw that he was upset about something so you just fucking chose to ignore him and be a total douchebag! He’s been through enough, y’know? And- and a lot of it was my fucking fault so I won’t let it be anymore!”

“Max just calm dow-”

“ _I_ ruined his life before, and I won’t let you after I finally get back the brother I had and even more, _better_. He’s- We’re- I’ll fucking kill you if you break him, I know Billy is all tough macho dickhole but he’s not- he can break! I’ve seen him broken so many times! I can’t! I’m finally fucking doing the right thing and using my fucking brain so you- you aren’t allowed to shit on all that!”

At this point, Steve was just along for the ride that is Max Mayfield.

“Everyone is putting it in his goddamn head that he’s not good enough for precious Steve Harrington, but why! Why doesn’t he get to be happy? What the fuck does Nancy Wheeler or Dustin fucking know about who Billy is?! I’ve seen him happy before and I ruined it! I’m not ruining it again! Neither are you! So if you aren’t serious you can fuck off before you wreck him. If you do Steve, I swear to God, El will help me. She loves Billy. I will kill you. We will.”

When Max is finally done, she’s breathing heavy and her heart is pounding and she wants to break something. Steve is just staring at her in stunned silence as she realizes they’re parked off to the side of the road, brings her back to when Billy first told her about dating Steve and it makes her cooling blood boil once more.

“The first thing he said, he didn’t even say you two were dating yet, he said that he didn’t deserve you because he’s an asshole. I don’t get it. He’s done so good. He sacrificed his life for El and before that he sacrificed himself to Neil for me. I didn’t even fucking know. I was so shitty, I ruined his life and he would still cover for me but it made me mad. So I’m done letting Billy fuckin kill himself over other people just for everyone to think he’s a monster. My mom is useless, she doesn’t give a shit, not really, Neil _is_ a fucking monster no matter how many times he calls me his “sweet daughter” and my fucking dad? Drug addict. Bily was the only one to ever be honest with me. To care in his own dumb way. And I used to hate him for it but it’s better knowing my dad is off his fucking knocker high rather than just not wanting to call his only kid. Billy is all I have, that is actual family, even if it’s only by law.”

She’s crying and fuck when did that happen? Steve breathes her name more than says it and fuck he’s close to crying too. That’s not what this was supposed to be. He grabs her hand and holds it in his.

“Max, if I ever hurt Billy, you have my full permission to beat me up or kill me or whatever, okay? I was shitty to Billy today, I know how it looked but he needed space. You can’t force your help onto Billy, you know that. I promise I _promise_ , I didn’t do anything to hurt him. I did upset him and he is upset and mad at me but I didn’t do it to hurt him. Do you want me to drive you to his house so you can talk to him? I’m not gonna go spilling Billy’s shit, you get that.”

She huffs a no and they drive to her house in silence. Max is still reeling with spilling her guts out in the most Max of way to Steve Harrington but is relieved to hear that Steve at least knew he was being shit. She made a mental note to pay more attention to how he treats Billy. 

Later that night Steve’s radio cracks four times and he switches to the frequency only he and Billy talk on just to breathe a relieved breath as Billy’s voice comes through clearly. “Come over.” With that and total disregard for Hopper’s rules, Steve’s on his way parking his car down the road and climbing up Billy’s window.

It’s only after rushed apologies between the two teens and kisses that taste like promises to do better on both ends does Steve remember his talk with Max. He’s gently running his fingers through Billy’s hair where it lays splayed against Steve’s chest, staring at the door that’s handle is being stuck with a chair, which when asked about it Billy mumbles about it being an old faulty fuck.

  
  


“Max gave me a shovel talk.”

Max Mayfield wasn’t a great sister but she was trying because she realized maybe she always loved this asshole she shared a home with for 4 years and she’ll be damned if anyone hurts him again.


End file.
